Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1887-03-05
The Humber DAYS.


ST. Louis Republican,: ssThis is indeed a
peculiar world" said a mining expert at
| the Planters house yesterday. Here
| pick up the papers and read of Mrs.
| Mackay's doings in Paris-how she re-
| ceives the scions Of royalty, how she en-
t~ertains, how she appears at the opera, how
| she dresses and how she does a thousand
other things; and then | can scarcely con-
ceiye that eighteen years ago She kept a
boarding house in Virginia city and that |
was one of her boarders Yet it is true.
and | often ponder over it. She was a
young widow then, with an interesting
child who has since matured into a young
lady and was recently married to an ltal-
ian prince of some kind. The little girl
has often sat on my knee with a little tin
can in her hand which contained the con
tributions of her admirers. In those days
we lived principally on canned food, and
Mrs. Mackay's back yard was paved with
tin al The child had selected a very
pretty can which one of the boarders trans
formed into a little bank. This was partly
filed with coin, the result Of a trlbue
which she levied On her friends. She
would climb on the boarders' knees, and
shaking her little bank would say: Is you
lucky today This query had the desired
effect. and the bank receipts were increas-
ed. Even in her days of distress Mrs.
Mackay was a good woman She per-
sonally superintended affairs and made
her boarders as comfortable as possible. L
was Their a superintendent under Fair, and
Mackay was already a millionaire. Min
inc stock was the rage then, and | remem-
Der often how she would come to me and
some of the other boarders and ask our
| advice about certain stocks, and am happy
to say that the advice Igave her was good
and if | had taken it myself would now be
IS 100000 or $4,000, 900 better off than |
am.
"TEen Macksy took a shine to the wild
ow and being reputed Il Of the Wealthles-
men in the camp, he found smooth sailing.
He couldn't win on his shape nor his good
looks, for everybody that has seen Mackay
knows that he wouldn't take a prize IN a
congress of beauty. They were led
and the little girl no longer sat on miners
knees, snd mammals delicate hand nc
longer placed corned beef and cabbage on
miners plates. The rose faster than Sherl-
dan stock did last summer, the only dit
ference being that their rise was backed
by hard coin. They great Comstock lode
continued to pour fourth its richness and
Mackay and his partner became immense,
ly wealthy. Although reared in poor cir
cumstances, Mrs. Mackay showed her good
sense by securing a private tutor, by whom
she was drilled and educated for five years
The little daughter was put through the
same course and fitted to shine in the mos
cultured society of the Old World. Their
came the conauests in New York, Sar
Francisco and finally the trips to Europe
A wear ago I was in Paris, and one even
inc attended a performance at the Crane
opera house. It was a first night, and
prominent in a private box We're two Ia
dies bedecked with diamonds and fes
TONED with flowers. They were tbs
cynosure of all eyes, and, leveling my
glasses, | discovered behind the silks
flowers and diamonds the face of my for
mer landlady in Virginia City. The out
lines were the same. but time had wrought
its changes. The young lady with hel
was the little girl who used to play on my
knee. She had grown out of my recol
lection.